Launch Monitor vs Golf Simulator

What a launch monitor and a net give you

Owners who hit into a net with a phone, iPad or TV beside it say it works for practice and for courses (nine on r/Golfsimulator). Courses run in the launch monitor maker’s app, in E6 Connect or Awesome Golf on an iPad, or in GSPro, a Windows simulator program with a yearly license, on a PC connected to a TV. One owner mirrors an iPad to a TV when friends play; another runs GSPro on an old TV beside the net.

The trade-off is where you look: the shot plays on a screen beside the net, so you look away to watch it.

How do you aim into a net?

Mark the center of the net, or a line on the floor or mat, set the software’s target line to that mark and hit straight at the mark; nine owners on r/Golfsimulator aim this way. One fixed a laser pointer to a Garmin R10 to show the line.

What a full simulator adds

Owners who added an impact screen and a projector say playing became more immersive, and partners who weren’t golfers started playing (four on r/Golfsimulator).

The catch they report most is the picture washing out in daylight, in garages and outdoors (five owners). Their fixes are a brighter projector, curtains or blocked windows, or playing at night; one finds 3,600 lumens just bright enough in a garage by day.

Whether you need a gaming PC depends on the software: GSPro needs one, while E6 Connect and Awesome Golf also run on an iPad and the Garmin R50 runs its simulator on its own screen.

Our guide to whether you need a PC for a golf simulator covers which launch monitors need one.

Our pages on impact screens, on nets and enclosures, and on projectors list every model with its price.

How much room each setup needs

With the Garmin R10, the net setup fits a room 15 ft long, 8 ft wide and 8 ft high; the full simulator needs the same length, the enclosure’s 10 ft 7 in of width and a 9 ft ceiling.

Our guide to golf simulator ceiling height and room size gives the room every launch monitor needs.

What each setup costs

Priced here with the same Garmin R10 in both, the full simulator costs $3,349 more to buy than the net setup: the enclosure with its impact screen, the projector and the gaming PC. Playing courses then costs $100 a year with a Garmin Golf membership on a phone, or $250 a year for GSPro on the PC.

Owners have built a full simulator for less than this one, two of them around a used launch monitor or projector, or a gaming PC they already had (five owners on r/Golfsimulator gave a lower total).

Our guide to what a golf simulator costs prices every part and three complete setups.

Can you start with a launch monitor and add a simulator later?

Yes, and owners on r/Golfsimulator did: three describe starting with a launch monitor and a mat or net, with each shot on a phone, iPad or TV, and adding an impact screen and a projector later.

Choose a launch monitor that connects to the simulator program you will want later: 32 of the 56 in our list connect to GSPro. And buy a good hitting mat from the start: four owners say it matters from the first session, and one owner’s $85 mat wore through at the impact zone in about a week and, on concrete, left its owner sore.

Our GSPro guide lists every launch monitor GSPro supports.

Can one launch monitor go to the range and run the home simulator?

Yes, if its maker rates it for outdoor use, as 40 of the 56 in our list are. Owners who move one unit between the range, a backyard net and a home simulator say its own display or a phone app makes that easy (five on r/Golfsimulator).

Our picks of the best golf launch monitors cover units for the range and for home.

Most units that sit on the floor work outdoors; the ones that work only indoors are in our comparison of indoor and outdoor launch monitors.

Which launch monitors work with only a net?

Most do: 45 of the 56 in our list show each shot on their own screen or in a phone or tablet app, and 23 of those also play simulator courses without a PC.

The other eleven, including the Trackman iO and Uneekor Eye XO2, show their shots only in software on a Windows PC, so the PC is part of every session, practice into a net included.